èAustria becoming weaker: Politically and imperially
nationalism vs liberalism- polyglot empire, not all Germans
German econ development
Zollverein: Austria not included
Railway: industrial revolution brought all of Prussia together
Austrian weaknesses, les affected by Liberals
1848 revolutions- End of Metternich System
Italian Unification wars- problems for Austria
Industrialisation: Prussia had more money, linked (railway), could build up the military, controlled the Ruhr and Silesia (coal and iron), Zollverein (Common Market, didn’t really unify econ but helped to strengthen position vis-à-vis Austria)
Bismarck’s beliefs: very conservative, royalist, Prussian nationalist, military man
Main tenet of policies: Prussia(and thus, Germany) would be number 1, not Austriaè use Real Politik to achieve goals, led to some strange events/laws
Play all fields
Flexibility
Exploitation
Opportunism
Constitutional crisis arose during reign of Wilhelm I: professional vs civilian army- King wanted to build up army, but Landtag controlled the funds and didn’t want to- Bismarck steps in on side of King, gets on good side
First order of business: War with Denmark 1863-4 (for Schleswig-Holstein in cause of German nationalism, used Austrian support to win easilyè gave middle Duchy to Austria: reason to declare war later
Then turned on Austria 1866 (7 weeks war): von Moltke was way better than Austrian counterpart and thus realized that needed to make innovations (telegraph, railways, tactics, technology), only took 7 weeks to defeat Austria, main battle at Königgrätz, made quick peaceto avoid interference of France, since it looked as though Austria started the war, Germans were on side of Prussia
Historiography:
Bismarck himself: “piloting a raft on the current of time”, not commanding events
Heinreich von Treitschke: iron chancellor, single-handedly unified Germany
AJP Taylor: “living in the moment, never troubled to learn the trade of diplomacy” used the situation to his benefit
Werner Mosse: situation: look after own interests, Bismarck’s interests matched those of German states
Helmut Böhme: diplomacy didn’t matter, econ affairs were main unificatory device, others laid foundations
Bismarck was helped by trend of nationalism sweeping Europe, if Germany did not have some type of national transformation it would have been very strangeè now all three elements (yearning for unification, political solution pursued, econ demarcation) all came together with Bismarck to unify Germany
Steps to Unification: first, unite N German states against Austria
King of Prussia was emperor of Germany, has supreme powers
Bundesrat and Reichstag answer to Emperor
Chancellor, also executive powers, answers only to emperor- had a lot of power
Problem was now to unify S German states as well: were very strongly Catholic, with France next door, big Catholic power, also, very unified with eachother-more nationalist within own state, less industrialized than N, esp Bavaria:
Luxembourg: France tried to buy Lux against German wishes, France felt threatened by nationalism and unification processes
Spain: Hohenzollern candidacy against Joseph Napoleonè looking for trouble with France in order to unite with S German states in nationalism against common enemy, France declares war: south realizes that they need Prussian military strength for security in Europe
Negative integration: scapegoating, create fear to unite groups against common enemy
In the Franco-German war 1870/1 (units from the southern German states fought on Prussia's side, and it was Bavarian troops that forced Napoleon's surrender at SEDAN) were victorious; France had to cede Alsace-Lorraine and to pay Reparations of 5 million golden francs
On January 2nd 1871, in Versailles, Germany's princes elected Prussia's King Wilhelm IV. Emperor (Kaiser) Wilhelm I. The German Empire (Deutsches Reich) was established as a federation of states, with Alsace-Lorraine being a special province under military administration
After unification: Goals- stay in power, Prussian superiority, continuation of monarchy
Kulturkampf- against Catholics (had alternative allegiance to Prussian Crownè create fear and mistrust), May Laws to suppress, unite with anti Catholics in Reichstag-made reforms to regain control of gov’t: he looks good giving social reformsè knew that a marginalized group of people would eventually get power from other groups who felt disenfranchised and grow into larger group, negative integration couldn’t go on forever (Williamson)
Lost him more support in the Reichstag and among the public than he had foreseen
Mistrust for Germany in strongly Catholic, highly contended areas: Poland and Alsace-Lorraine
Purged the civil service of liberals
Econ: Great Depression 1873-1896: protectionist policies to rebuild econ, but this went against former allies, Liberals,
Anti-Socialist laws
è lost control of the Reichstag because of Real Politik constantly changing who he was supporting, considered reactionary eventually
Used anti-Semitism feeling which was sweeping Europe at the time to his benefit with anti-Semitic law even though he was not anti-Semitic
Foreign Policy: against colonies at first, - economic burden and were no good in the long run- eventually keeled over because of internal pressure or need to divert attention (Wilhelm II was becoming increasingly aggressive and demanding):
Cameroons, Togo, etc. Wanted to keep France isolated, good relations with Britain “natural allies”.
Web of alliances in Europe to isolate France (France eventually went to Russia).
Had always thought that good relations with Russia and GB were necessary to keep balance of power Triple Alliance with Austria and Italy.
Problems in E Europe, string of alliances, almost wars “powder keg”è all changed with Wilhelm II: neue course and fired Bismarck in 1890
Precarious situation created for himself by being answerable only to the Kaiser: bad terms with Wilhelm II, also Kulturkampf blew up in his face, had power in the Reichstag because was willing to make compromises right and left- dangerous, but still image of Bismarck as father figure, unifier of German peoples, foreign policy also was successful to a point, “iron and blood” at first and then compromise diplomacy and a web of alliances which would be downfall.
Why Prussia took over:
After unification: Goals- stay in power, Prussian superiority, continuation of monarchy